Harnessing A Foolproof Hiring Process
Being an entrepreneur can be overwhelming, and when you are looking to grow your business, it can pull you in so many different directions. This is why hiring the right person becomes an invaluable skill. Learning how to hire the right person isn't just about putting the job on the right website, but it's about understanding how a person can fit into your business. How can we make our hiring process foolproof?
Know Exactly What You're Looking For
It's simple, but extremely effective. If you don't know what you need, this will make for a more laborious hiring process. If you have an understanding of the role that you are hiring for, down to the smallest specifications, you'll be able to find people with the appropriate experience, but also highlight to candidates that you have a specific agenda. The advertising can tell a candidate a lot about the business, not just the job. And in many ways, you have to make the advertisement part of the vetting process. You have to encourage the right people to apply, but also discourage the wrong people at the same time.
Learning How To Organise The Applications
The vetting process to shortlist candidates begins with the job posting, but after this, you have to find a method in which to separate the good candidates from the bad. While an applicant needs to provide their suitability for the role on their CV, there can be exceptions to the rule, and this means you've got to be a bit flexible. But, generally speaking, you've got to see if someone's made an impact right away. This is even more important if you've got piles of CVs to wade through. Sometimes it's about the application being a little bit different, either via video, or they have written a covering letter that really stands out. You will find your own appropriate method, but it's best to have an idea of how to go through the applications before you go through hundreds of them.
Developing The Right Interview Technique
You've whittled it down to a handful of candidates, and you are now looking to interview them. Because many people are very hot on their interview technique, it still may not make them the right person for the job. What you need to find through the interview is who the person is. If they can fit in with the culture of the business, but also, if they are someone that you'd like to work with. Sometimes putting them in a different setting can highlight their weaknesses. Because people that apply for jobs don't like to show their weaknesses per se, it could be in your best interests to find someone who is fallible, because they are someone who can learn from their mistakes. Interviewing someone doesn't have to be a face-to-face task, you could do it over the telephone, or a Skype interview, saving you money. The right interview technique is not just about the questions you ask, but it's about getting this person to open up and to be themselves, which can be very difficult to achieve.
But if you are looking for a specific type of person, you should never underestimate your gut instinct throughout this process.